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. 2006 Aug;96(8):1386-96.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.064998. Epub 2006 Jun 29.

Asbestos-related disease in South Africa: the social production of an invisible epidemic

Lundy Braun  1 , Sophia Kisting
Affiliations

Asbestos-related disease in South Africa: the social production of an invisible epidemic

Lundy Braun et al. Am J Public Health. 2006 Aug.

Abstract

South Africa was the third largest exporter of asbestos in the world for more than a century. As a consequence of particularly exploitative social conditions, former workers and residents of mining regions suffered--and continue to suffer--from a serious yet still largely undocumented burden of asbestos-related disease. This epidemic has been invisible both internationally and inside South Africa. We examined the work environment, labor policies, and occupational-health framework of the asbestos industry in South Africa during the 20th century. In a changing local context where the majority of workers were increasingly disenfranchised, unorganized, excluded from skilled work, and predominantly rural, mining operations of the asbestos industry not only exposed workers to high levels of asbestos but also contaminated the environment extensively.

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Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Map of South Africa depicting the location of former mines, factories, and railroad lines that carried asbestos to ports for export. Source: Parliament of South Africa.
FIGURE 2—
FIGURE 2—
An asbestos adit on a hillside in the North-West Province, 2002.
FIGURE 3—
FIGURE 3—
Large masses of dried blue asbestos fibers mixed with mine tailings in a partially rehabilitated dump close to human settlements in the Northern Cape Province, 2001. Arrow indicates asbestos.
FIGURE 4—
FIGURE 4—
Blue asbestos along the banks of a dried riverbed in the Orange River in the town of Prieska, 2001. Arrows indicates asbestos.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Mabiletja Z. M., quoted in Z. M. Mabiletja, M. A. Felix, L. Roodt, “Participatory Research, Community Action: The Mafefe Experience” (unpublished paper, July 1989).
    1. Residents of Ncweng, South Africa, Interview by the Asbestos Collaborative, July 12, 2001.
    1. Matseke Brown, Interview by Lundy Braun, July 5, 2004.
    1. van Niekerk Phillip, “Blue and White Disaster,” New Statesman, October 19,1984. The longevity of the asbestos industry in South Africa is noteworthy. Crocidolite mining ceased in 1996, 30 years after the only other crocidolite-producing mine in the world at Wittenoom in Australia shut down. By 1965, British dockworkers were refusing to handle asbestos. By 1979, Sweden had banned the use of asbestos.
    1. Simson F. W., “Pulmonary Asbestosis in South Africa,” British Medical Journal, May 26, 1928: 885–887; Richard Doll, “Mortality from Lung Cancer in Asbestos Workers,” British Journal of Industrial Medicine 12(1955): 81–86; J. C. Wagner, “Some Pathological Aspects of Asbestos in the Union of South Africa,” in Proceedings of the Pneumoconiosis Conference Held at the University of Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, 1959, ed A. J. Orenstein (London: J. & A. Churchhill Ltd, 1960). 383–390; C. A. Sleggs, P. Marchand, C. Wagner, “Diffuse Pleural Mesothelioma in South Africa,” South African Medical Journal 35(1961): 28–34.

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